Belly Up

“At the time, I was merely looking for some excitement. If I’d had any idea how much trouble sneaking into that autopsy would ultimately cause me—or how much danger I’d end up in—I never would have done it. Never in a million years.”

The author uses first-person narration to build suspense and provide foreshadowing. At the beginning of the novel, Teddy, the protagonist and narrator is largely motivated by boredom. He uses his curiosity and resourcefulness to spy on the autopsy because he is simply “looking for some excitement.” The dangers Teddy faces after this turning point spur him to grow in courage and test his commitment to protecting animals.

“‘You’d just have to take something small with a lot of sharp points—sharp enough to pierce Henry’s intestine—then wad it up in some food and throw it into his mouth. In fact, given the number of holes—here’s three more—someone probably tossed in a lot of these things.’ ‘Wait a minute,’ said Pete. ‘Are you suggesting Henry was murdered?’ Doc hesitated a moment before answering. ‘Yes.’”

The dialogue during Henry’s autopsy contains the first mention of the possibility that the hippo was murdered. Gibbs adds to the scene’s suspense by having his young protagonist nearly discovered eavesdropping on the adults’ conversation. In a twist, Doc later reveals he knew Teddy was listening and wanted him to hear about Henry’s suspicious death.

“‘So, yes, maybe someone killed Henry,’ she said. ‘But I don’t think it’s murder. It’s just what humans have always done to animals.’”

The author uses this fictional story to address real-life issues. For example, Teddy’s mother tells him about another animal that died because guests fed it things they shouldn’t have. Anecdotes like this advance the theme of environmental ethics and encourage readers to develop their consciences.

“But it seemed to me that, if someone really had murdered Henry, that was important. If the killer got away with the crime once, why wouldn’t they do it again? What if more animals ended up dead because no one was doing anything to help them?”

In a pivotal moment for the plot and Teddy’s characterization, he resolves to investigate Henry’s death. His decision to become a detective is rooted in his ethics about animals and sets up the rest of the novel’s events. From the beginning, Teddy’s investigation carries a sense of suspense and danger. This chapter establishes that he is already being spied on, that he cannot rely on the police, and that no adults are ready to join him in his search for the truth.

“A hundred years ago, some zoos might not have treated their animals well, but these days they all try to provide the best treatment possible. I wish the world didn’t need zoos—and I’ll bet most zookeepers do too—but right now, they’re important. Zoos have prevented plenty of animals from going extinct—and Mom always says there wouldn’t even be a conservation movement without them.”

Gibbs uses his novel to educate readers and build up their knowledge and their sense of environmental ethics. Through Teddy’s narration in this passage, he weighs in on an animal rights debate and addresses common misconceptions about zoos. The book’s position is one of valuing zoos.

“‘Meet me behind the Gorilla Grill in fifteen minutes,’ she said, then vanished with a rustle of leaves. […] I was alone on the bench again, feeling strangely excited. It looked like I might have found someone willing to believe me after all.”

Teddy gains an invaluable ally when Summer McCracken, the resourceful daughter of FunJungle’s owner, joins his investigation. As the story continues, the two face a number of obstacles and become close friends. It’s suggested throughout that they even have a mutual crush.

“I had no idea what the groove could be for. My first thought was filtration, but there was a standard filtration grate not far away. I moved my hands along the groove and found a few screws bolting the metal tightly to the floor. I followed the groove a bit, seeing that it passed under the wire mesh fence that marked the beginning of Hildegard’s enclosure and kept on going as far as I could see.”

The groove Teddy finds at the bottom of Henry’s enclosure is the first clue of an insidious plan to transform FunJungle in a way that would be detrimental to the animals’ well-being and dangerous to the guests. This instance of foreshadowing shows there is more than one mystery at the zoo for the detective to solve. Both mysteries are driven by greed, however.

“It was a small metal ball with six barbs sticking out of it: north, south, east, west, top, and bottom. Some of the barbs had been filed to sharp points; some were rather blunt. It had been done quickly, without much care for quality. One barb still had the remnants of an even smaller ball at the tip. Overall, it was maybe an inch across. It was a jack. Or, it had been. Now it was most definitely a murder weapon.”

The discovery of the murder weapon marks an important plot point. The deliberately sharpened jack in Henry’s pool proves the hippo’s death wasn’t an accident, but the reader, along with Teddy and Summer, still don’t know who would do this or why. Additionally, this scene establishes that Summer is already a vital member of the investigative team. Teddy would not have been able to search the hippo enclosure without her, and she is the one who finds the jack.

“What was I supposed to do now? If Doc wasn’t interested in the jack, why had he taken it? Why was he worried? Was it because of the mystery person in the room? Or was it because another animal was dead? I stopped outside the hospital, struck by another disturbing thought. Something had been bothering me about the jaguar since I’d seen it and now, I’d finally figured out what it was. There weren’t any jaguars at FunJungle.”

The plot thickens when Doc confiscates Teddy’s solitary piece of evidence. The veterinarian’s “worried” reaction to Teddy’s investigation implies he knows who is behind Henry’s death. The dead jaguar Teddy sees adds to the suspense because it shows the stakes are bigger than a deceased hippo.

“The floor was black. The walls were black. The nearby planter was black. Exactly the same color as a mamba. Now, I felt my blood go cold.”

In one of the novel’s tensest scenes, Henry’s murderer lures Teddy to a hallway where a venomous black mamba is on the loose. This shows the killer will do whatever it takes to silence Teddy. The author incorporates animal trivia into the plot and increases the suspense: Teddy informs the reader black mambas are the deadliest snake in the world before he realizes the reptile was released.

“I knew you could handle yourself in Africa because animals aren’t really that dangerous. They rarely try to harm people unless they’ve been provoked—and even on those occasions, they’re not that hard to scare away. But humans are different. If a human really wants to hurt you, he won’t give up that easily. He’ll keep coming after you. He’ll keep trying new tactics until he finds one that works. What you’ve gotten involved in here isn’t a game. This is dangerous and you need to behave accordingly.”

Mrs. Fitzroy’s concern for her son helps to establish the gravity of his situation. Her explanation of the difference between animals and humans reveals Teddy’s investigation is more perilous than being around wild animals in the Congo. This is because humans will attack each other unprovoked and with deadly persistence.

“The hippo was a disaster waiting to happen and Thwacker wanted him dead. So Marge gets all conspiratorial and says, ‘Are you asking me to kill Henry?’ And Thwacker says, ‘Could you do it?’ And Marge says, ‘Not for what I’m getting paid right now.’”

Charlie overhears Pete Thwacker and Marge hatching a plot to kill Henry and passes this information onto Teddy and Summer. In actuality, this is a red herring as neither Pete nor Marge have the necessary ability, the text suggests, to use sharpened jacks as a murder weapon. Part of what makes Teddy’s investigation challenging is how many suspects there are who loathed the hippo.

“‘Sounds like this was an inside job.’ ‘Oh, I don’t think there was ever any doubt of that.’ Buck stood and stretched. ‘Well, it’s late and I’ve got a long drive home. I hope you’ve taken this little talk to heart, Teddy.’ ‘I have, sir,’ I said. ‘I have your word you’re done investigating?’ ‘Sure.’ ‘Good to hear.’ Buck tousled my hair and smiled.”

This passage abounds with dramatic irony because the man who confirms Henry’s death was “an inside job” and has Teddy promise to give up the investigation is the killer. Unbeknownst to Teddy, the seemingly affable Buck soon uses the information he gathers from the boy to make an attempt on Doc’s life at Carnivore Canyon. These details show the depth of Buck’s character.

“When I first heard about the murder, I had a hunch who might be behind it. Now, I’ve had Buck and the security staff working on this case round the clock over the last two days, and what they’ve found has confirmed my fears. It’s quite likely that Henry was murdered by saboteurs.”

In a milestone for Teddy’s investigation, he secures a meeting with the owner of FunJungle. McCracken says Henry’s death cost him millions in profits, which decreases the likelihood he is a suspect. The unsubstantiated claim Henry’s murder is the work of “saboteurs” shows Buck is deliberately steering his boss in the wrong direction to protect himself.

“Someone suddenly darted past us from behind, heading toward the tiger. I couldn’t see who it was in the darkness. Only that he was armed with a broom. The tiger ignored him, still focused on us. It sprang, teeth bared, claws extending from its paws…The man swung the broom like a baseball bat, catching the tiger full in the face. The tiger tumbled to the walkway, shook its head, and sneezed. ‘Down!’ the man ordered.”

In the dramatic introduction of Teddy’s father, he defends his wife and son from a tiger. The big cat is the second dangerous animal released near Teddy since he began his investigation into Henry’s death. At the end of the novel, Teddy deduces Doc was the intended target of the attack.

“‘So then, FunJungle might not really be trying to find the bad guy at all? They might only be trying to find someone to take the fall?’ ‘Possibly.’ ‘But then the real bad guy gets away.’ ‘Not if we can help it,’ Dad said.”

After Pete Thwacker makes Henry’s murder public knowledge and blames it on the Animal Liberation Front, Teddy’s parents promise to help him with the investigation. Teddy’s concern that FunJungle is more interested in finding “someone to take the fall” than in bringing the true culprit to justice proves true when Buck later arrests Mr. and Mrs. Fitzroy and falsely claims they belong to ALF. This quote pits animal rights groups against the zoo’s greed.

“‘I was told you had a list of all the animals that have died at FunJungle.’ Roz reacted, more curious than suspicious. ‘What do you need that for?’ ‘McCracken wants photographic documentation of every animal that’s come to FunJungle. His office gave me a list of every animal that’s been shipped here, but they said it’s not completely accurate because it doesn’t take into account the animals that have died. I don’t want to go running around all day looking for an animal that no longer exists, so they sent me here for the list.’”

In an important development for the plot and the theme of resourcefulness, Teddy’s father obtains the list of dead animals by claiming he needs it for his job. An alarming number of animals died even though FunJungle was only open a few weeks. This raises the stakes of the investigation by showing Henry’s death is not an isolated incident and implying animals will continue to be killed until the mystery is solved.

“We quickly scanned the model, looking for other discrepancies between it and the real FunJungle. There was a river rafting ride near Carnivore Canyon, a smaller coaster in the children’s zoo, a log flume by the Swamp—and boats in Hippo River. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing—and when I looked at Mom and Dad, they seemed to be feeling the same sense of shock. ‘This is disgusting,’ Dad said. ‘It’s worse than disgusting,’ Mom replied. ‘It’s evil. How could they…?’”

While investigating Henry’s death, the Fitzroys uncover McCracken’s plan to add thrill rides to FunJungle. The plans, which Teddy’s parents describe as “disgusting” and “evil,” are separate from Henry’s murder and would lead to even greater animal rights violations. This major plot event connects to the theme of The Purposes of Environmental Ethics Versus Greed because McCracken’s plans aim to increase profits and completely disregard the animals’ safety.

“‘Who are we supposed to tell?’ Dad asked. ‘McCracken owns the park. He can do anything he wants. These plans might be cruel and idiotic, but they’re not illegal.’ ‘Unlike breaking and entering,’ someone said. I peered through the legs of the conference table. Several men had entered the room. Most wore the sensible shoes of building security—although one wore cowboy boots. Those went with the southern drawl I’d heard: Buck Grassley. ‘Arrest them,’ he said.”

The suspense increases when Buck arrests Mr. and Mrs. Fitzroy. Buck is aware of the Fitzroys’ innocence because he killed Henry, and he intends to make them take the fall for his crimes. After his parents are arrested, Teddy must draw upon even greater reserves of bravery and perseverance to solve the mystery and clear his parents’ names.

“I had no idea where I was going. I just ran. My parents had been arrested on trumped-up charges. J.J. probably intended to pin the murder of Henry and everything else that had happened on them. Even though our lives were the ones that had been in danger. And Summer had betrayed me.”

Teddy reaches his lowest point emotionally after his parents’ arrest. At this point, he believes J. J. McCracken is the one targeting his family and that Summer, whom he considered a friend and ally, set them up. Teddy must summon all of his bravery to come back from this situation and continue his investigation.

“The mine set up a shady animal distributor and Martin arranged contracts with FunJungle. Whenever he needed a new shipment of emeralds, he’d send a request for a big animal, like an anaconda or a jaguar. They’d go out and catch one in the wild—which is totally illegal—then do a little surgery, sewing a pouch of jewels inside the animal. Customs never noticed. Of course, the animals usually got sick because the surgery wasn’t done right, but that didn’t bother Martin. In fact, it made his job easier, because when they died, he had a legitimate reason for having me cut them open to get his emeralds out, rather than having to make one up.”

Doc reveals Martin del Gato’s evil plot to smuggle emeralds inside animals. His scheme makes a travesty of wildlife conservation and environmental ethics, which are meant to be at the heart of FunJungle’s efforts. Teddy and the reader now understand what befell the jaguar in the operating room. Additionally, the emeralds serve as a symbol of greed.

“The buffalo were all watching the guards, slowly forming a defensive wedge with the biggest bull in front. I heaved the rock, nailing him in his rear haunch. The buffalo bellowed in surprise and ran. The others took his lead. Within seconds, their delicate state of alertness became panic. They stampeded the way they were facing: toward the guards.”

Teddy uses a rock and his knowledge of animals to send a stampede of water buffalo after the security guards pursuing him. This develops the theme of Using Curiosity and Resourcefulness to Illuminate Social Issues. Making his way through a herd of buffalo is an extremely dangerous situation, and it is just one of the many obstacles Teddy faces during his efforts to reach McCracken and clear his parents’ names.

“‘This is insanity.’ Buck spoke directly to J.J. now. ‘The kid’s making everything up. He’s just trying to protect his parents. There’s evidence against them…’ ‘All of which you provided,’ J.J. replied.”

In the novel’s final chapter, Henry’s killer is revealed and the Fitzroys’ innocence is proven thanks to Teddy’s detective work. Buck’s continued efforts to shift the blame reflect his manipulative, deceitful nature. This moment nuances Buck’s character.